Council Tax Reduction - Help With Application

Jude57

I'm hoping the knowledgeable people here can help. Apologies for the long post but I'm trying to give all relevant info. 

 I'm helping a neighbour with her finances and ran her details through entitledto which says she may be entitled to Council Tax Reduction (she already receives the 25% reduction as a sole occupant Band A property. The stumbling block is her perception of how the Council will view her situation, set out below:

My neighbour retired from a hugely stressful job in October 2018 and received her occupational lump sum (<£30,000) and her pension is paid calendar monthly, just over £815 per month. She used her lump sum to refurbish her rented home, decorating throughout after clearing what I can only describe as a hoarded home. She also replaced worn out furnishings and appliances. She paid off a credit card debt and took two short holidays. It had been my neighbour's intention to find a part time, stress free job to keep active and top up her pension but the pandemic put paid to that so she's used her dwindling nest egg to top up her monthly pension. Her lump sum is now spent. 

Now things are opening up, unfortunately her health isn't up to working even part time, hence the benefits check. My neighbour won't apply for PIP because she had a bad experience with the system years ago and as a very private person, found it overwhelmingly intrusive. She believes the Council will be as intrusive if she applies for CTR and I can't reassure her because I don't know that they won't! The CTR would halve her CTax so it's worth applying and as I worked in CTax recovery, my neighbour takes it for granted that I know everything about it, but I know nothing about CTR.

So it's over to the experts - what can we expect if I can get her to apply? Will the Council want proof that she can't work? Will they want receipts for all the work my neighbour had done? She did pay some cash in hand but has receipts for most of it. 

Any help gratefully received, thanks in advance.

TL:DR - how 'nosy' are Council Tax Reduction officers? 😀

calcotti

The council will not have any interest in whether or not she can work. CTR is a financial calculation with no work related conditionality.

It is impossible to say what enquiries they will make regarding the disposal of her capital. 

Jude57

Thanks @calcotti that's as I thought. Her financial situation would be much better if she applied for and was awarded PIP but she flatly refuses. Even persuading her to apply for CTR is proving difficult. I'm not sure I can do much more than I've done so far, frankly.

Some people are their own worst enemies!

calcotti

Jude57 said: I'm not sure I can do much more than I've done so far, frankly.

You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.